Ars went hands-on with the third-generation iPad as well as the third- …

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Apple announced both a new iPad and a new Apple TV during its media event on Wednesday, but you wouldn't necessarily know it by looking at them. Ars spent some hands-on time with both devices in the briefing room after the event was over and managed to get a few answers to some of our questions, but as usual, Apple remained mum on some others.

Apple TV

First let's start with the Apple TV. The device looks the same as the second-generation device and, in fact, the new interface that Apple touted during the event will also be coming to the second-generation version via software update. The only thing new about the third-gen Apple TV is the ability to output 1080p (the second-gen can play 1080p movies but only outputs 720p) plus a more direct link into iCloud for photo syncing. If all you want is the new and improved interface (which I do like, as an Apple TV fan), you'll be able to get it from Apple on your second-gen device without having to pay anything.

We asked whether the third-gen Apple TV had the same A5X processor as that in the new iPad (as was previously rumored), but an Apple spokesperson told us that it has a "single-core version of the A5" and it's not the same as what's in the iPad. The CPU is capable of handling 1080p HD video. The spokesperson also claimed that users "only need an 8-10 megabit Internet connection" in order to take advantage of 1080p movies from iTunes, but speaking as someone with experience with the second-generation Apple TV at a mere 720p, this depends highly upon your individual ISP. (Insert grumbling about Comcast here.)

And despite rumors that Siri would come to the third-generation Apple TV (and continued insistence by some publications), there were no indications that Siri was anywhere on the new Apple TV interface. We are confident in saying that Siri is not currently available on the device, though that could certainly change with a software update.

Third-generation iPad

Moving onto the third-gen iPad, as we saw during the presentation, the device looks nearly identical to its second-generation brother, but with a few very minor tweaks. For one, it is indeed very slightly thicker than the iPad 2—the iPad 2 was 0.34 inches thick while the third-gen iPad is 0.37 inches thick. This is extremely small and likely not perceptible to most users, but what's more perceptible is the apparent increase in weight.

Yep, looks like an iPad!

Upon picking up the third-generation iPad, it's very clear that it weighs more than the iPad 2, but the Apple spokespeople I spoke to insisted that it was the same weight. As it turns out, it's not: Apple's tech specs page claims the third-generation iPad is 1.44 pounds (1.46 for WiFi+4G), while the iPad 2 was 1.33 pounds. This is again a relatively minor difference, but it's certainly noticeable if you're used to handling an iPad 2. (The original iPad weighed 1.5 pounds, so the third-gen device is close-but-not-quite the same weight as the original.)

Apple would not allow anyone to take side-by-side photos of the iPad 2 and third-gen iPad, ostensibly because they look so similar and Apple didn't want any third-generation iPads disappearing from the briefing room.

We asked whether the front-facing camera on the third-gen iPad had been improved, and the answer appeared to be no. (An Apple spokesperson said it has "VGA resolution," which matches what the company said about the front-facing camera in the iPad 2.) It still has a 30-pin iPod connector and Apple clarified that the A5X processor inside is dual-core, but with quad-core graphics—this information is also reflected on the company's tech specs page. As is usual for Apple, no one wanted to answer questions about how much RAM was inside.

And despite recent rumors to the contrary, the magnetic Smart Covers attached to the iPads in the briefing room were the same as the ones introduced with the iPad 2. There was no back panel to protect the back of the iPad—it's essentially the same design and while it wasn't explicitly stated, spokespeople indicated that current Smart Covers for the iPad 2 will work with the third-generation device.

As for the high-resolution "retina" display, it certainly looked good. Just like the iPhone 4 and 4S, the third-generation iPad's screen was very smooth and able to (quite impressively) display high-resolution photos and videos without pixelation no matter how close you look. The display has fewer pixels per inch than the iPhone 4/4S, but in our side-by-side comparisons, that wasn't perceptible. The two screens looked basically the same in terms of sharpness, though the third-gen iPad did appear to have higher color saturation.

That's it?

That's mostly it. We also had some hands on time with the new iPhoto for iPad, which introduces a number of multitouch editing capabilities that I love to see on the Mac. The app is already available via the App Store today, so it's worth checking out if you haven't already. At $4.99, I'm certainly planning to buy it and put in some more hands-on time. (We will hopefully offer you a review on that soon!)

Let us know what other questions you might have about the third-generation iPad—we'll be sure to take them into account as we formulate our iPad review attack strategy once the device hits the streets on March 16.

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Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui

Seriously, this is just as important as the resolution of this new iPad.

This has been answered a pile of times already today alone, go look it up for details. Short version is that at 20/20 eye resolving power is about 1 arc-minute. If the spacing between pixels is a, the distance from the eye is b, and the angle (resolving) is c, then tan(c/2) = a/2b. You can use that to solve the critical distance for any pixel density you'd like. For 264 ppi (new iPad), critical distance is about 13 inches.

dual-core isn't necessarily a bad thing, if you look at the performance of something like Krait with only 2 cores. Has it been absolutely confirmed that the CPU uses the same cortex A9 cores as the iPad 2?

How sure are you that the iCloud photo stuff is actually new? Because my current 720p AppleTV boxes can already throw my iCloud photo stream up on the TV set. It was included a few software updates back.

AppleTV video formats support - Are we still stuck with streaming only Apple-specific formats (i.e., mp4, mov, etc.) from a computer to the AppleTV. Or, can we also stream other formats like mpg, avi, mkv, etc?